Louisiana Could Lose the Title of Incarceration Capital of the World

I love it when we come in first. Louisiana is no slouch either. According to Only in your state, we rank #1 in a lot of good things, like most improved in ACT scores, most Major Business Projects per Capita in the South, Largest Producer of Crawfish in the United States, and most festivals per capita in the United States (no surprise there).

However, there is one title that we don't brag about at dinner parties with the other states, mostly because New York is such a gossip hound. I am talking about the title of Incarceration Capitol of the World. Most Tabasco sauce production, worst drivers in the U.S. - I can handle those. Most people currently in jail, not so much.

It looks like we are about to lose that title to.....

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That's right! According to the Daily Comet, Oklahoma is poised to take the handcuffed crown from the Bayou State and that's just fine with me. There is no smoking gun responsible for this possible change on the leader board, several factors are converging to remove Louisiana from the felonious podium. First off, there is currently legislation being considered that would revise drug penalties, allow earlier releases for nonviolent offenders and more to ease the overpopulated jails. Secondly, even though Oklahoma is considering similar changes - there is a steady increase in the amount of folks going in to jails.

Currently, Louisiana locks up about 776 people per 100,000. Oklahoma is very close, stuffing cells with 719 inmates per 100,000.